


Daily News 2:  The Electrifying Tale Continues

by larascasse



Category: Formula 1 RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Superheroes/Superpowers, Crack, M/M, Nonsense, not the brightest bunch, sex happens when you least expect it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-02
Updated: 2015-09-02
Packaged: 2018-04-18 17:09:02
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,219
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4713863
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/larascasse/pseuds/larascasse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Superhero-journalists-fighting-an-evil-mastermind-who-is-brainwashing-and-kidnapping-people!AU</p><p> </p><p>Note: You really should read "Daily News" (http://archiveofourown.org/works/1289413) if you want this to make more sense.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Daily News 2:  The Electrifying Tale Continues

**Author's Note:**

> I apologize for nothing. Read at your own risk. Random pop culture references were for my own amusement.

 

“Why is it always me who gets stuck with the Classified?” Seb says with a scowl, typing up the last of the _Cars for Sale_ section.

Mark looks up and over his laptop. “New arrivals always get the Classified. It’s that or Obituaries, your pick.” 

“We haven’t fought bad guys in over a week,” Seb says as he drums his fingers on the wooden desk. “Can’t we just go out there and find some?” 

Mark saves his article on the latest political unrest and gets up, stretching his legs before leaning against his desk. “We can’t spend our days aimlessly chasing around. I still have a mortgage to pay.”

“Well I don’t,” Seb mutters.

“Is because you still live with mama,” Fernando pipes up from the neighbouring desk, earning a chuckle from Mark. 

“I was thinking,” Mark says, chewing at the pen in his hand. “Maybe it’s time we fix that.”

“Fix what?” Kimi asks walking in an hour late and looking like he’s been through a hurricane.

“What happened to you?” Seb asks, happy for any distraction from the tedious task he’s working on. 

“Something broke the traffic system. Had to make some ice bridges to prevent idiots from crashing into each other,” Kimi replies as he picks the ice chunks from his hair. 

“Not something, someone,” Mark says.

The man on the large screen taps the microphone and fixes his earpiece. “Are we on Pete, is this thing on?” This Pete, the cameraman it seems, must give him the thumbs up because the man smiles in return. “Hello everyone! This is Ted Kravitz reporting from…well, I can’t really tell you from where, now can I? You’ll probably have noticed a few glitches in your systems by now. Nothing to worry about, all part of the plan.”

“Who is that?” Fernando asks, studying the screen like the rest of the team.

“No idea, but another nut job that’s for sure.” 

“Soo…we get to finally go bad guys hunting?” Seb says a little too joyfully.

Mark shoots him a quick glare and shakes his head. “Look, we don’t even know what this Ted wants.” 

“Shhh!” Kimi shushes. “Trying to watch,” he says and increases the volume on the TV.

“Can you read his mind?” Seb asks Kimi, “Find out what he wants?”

Kimi increases the volume even further. “He’s too far for that, tried already.” 

“Over here Pete, can we get a shot of them,” Ted says, waving the cameraman to the side. Three men are sitting on chairs, bound by an assortment of camera cables, a green screen in the background. “What you’re looking at are the Big Three, whom we’ll be interviewing later today on Ted’s Notebook.” 

“Ted’s Notebook?” Mark mouths as he scrunches up his forehead in disbelief. 

“Is that Christian?!” Seb says, leaning in towards the screen. 

“Until then, you might want to stay off the roads. They had to do a little adjustment to the frequencies to get us on air, and we had some…unforeseen side effects. We’ll see you later!” The man waves just before the screen goes black, no other signal coming across the television screen.

Kimi flips the TV off and settles in his chair, spinning from side to side. 

“Can we go now? He’s got hostages! Christian!” Seb pipes up, already slipping into his jacket.

“We don’t know where we’re going,” Mark says, tapping his pencil on the desk as he thinks. 

“Who is they?” Fernando asks, still staring at the black screen. He turns around when he’s met with silence. “The man, he said they do adjustments to frequency. Who they are?”

“He’s just pissed that none of the big news companies hired him and he’s stuck doing mindless entertainment stories, wants to show the world how good a reporter he is, show them what they’ve missed on,” Kimi says, arms crossed behind his head, sunglasses on. If Mark didn’t know any better, he’d think Kimi was talking in his sleep. Then again, maybe Mark doesn’t know any better… 

“You read his mind? Is close?” Fernando asks, eyes wide with anticipation.

Kimi stifles a yawn and puts his feet up on the desk. “Don’t need mind reading for that. He’s just a guy that got shit from society and snapped. Not hard to figure out.” 

Mark pauses for a moment to think about what he saw on the screen. “I think you’re right Kimi. Those hostages: Christian, Wolff and Arrivabene. They’re all execs of the biggest news agencies in the area.”

Seb paces around the room. “So what now? We just sit and wait for him to be done with his show? We need to get Christian back!”

“We will, Seb. Why don’t you go for a run, see how far the damage has spread, that might help us triangulate his position,” Mark says, pulling out a tattered map from his desk since his computer and phone also seem to be acting up. 

He clears the desk top and unfolds the map of the town, marking an X on the location of the Big Three news agencies, including theirs. He barely lifted the pencil from the map when papers around him go flying in the air and the pencil disappears from his hand. 

Seb draws a rough circle on the map that stretches a ten-block diameter. “It’s not 100%, signals are on and off towards the outer edge,” Seb says, then sits down and gulps down a full water bottle. 

Mark raises an eyebrow at him, watching a couple drops of sweat fall down his temple, and it makes him curious as to how Seb manages to stay put long enough for them to have sex. He must have been staring for too long, watching how Seb's neck lengthen when he drinks, how his Adam's apple moves with each mouthful, how he licks the wetness from his lips. Yes, he definitely was staring too long, because “Ouch!” Fernando kicks his shin and gives him a pointed look. 

“Right,” Mark says and clears his throat. “That's not a small area...” he ponders as the other three huddle closer around the map.

“Don't look at me,” Seb says, downing his second water bottle. “I need to recharge before going on another run.” 

“What about Mark? Your xray vision, is easy, no?” Fernando asks. 

Mark shakes his head. “I can probably reach the bottom five floors, seven if I'm lucky. But when have you seen a bad guy hold hostages on the bottom floors of a building. They're egomaniacs compensating for something they're lacking. They always choose the top floor, view overlooking the city, access to helipad, you know the drill.” 

“That's it!” Seb says with a huge grin. 

Mark is glad he's not the only confused one when he sees both Kimi and Fernando looking at Seb like he has two heads. “What's _it_?”

“That's where they are!” Seb says smiling. “What's the tallest buildings in that circle?” he says pointing at the map. “We should start there.”

Mark smiles back, making Seb blush. “Okay, tallest buidling it is. Anyone knows what the tallest building is?” 

“Prancing Horse Hotel,” Kimi answers. “Penthouse on top floor, helipad, nice pool.” 

“How you know this?” Fernando asks, and Mark could swear there was a hint of jealousy in his tone. 

Kimi smiles to himself. “Got drunk one night, ended up there.” No one asks him to explain further. They all know he wouldn't even if they asked. 

“Prancing Horse Hotel it is then, let's go.”

 

They barely drive two blocks when they have to abandon the van, the streets complete chaos with the traffic lights not working.

“What the hell is all this water from?” Mark says as they step out of the van and both his feet land in almost a foot of water. He frowns even more when he looks up and sees cars piled up, literally, on top of each other. Out of the corner of his eye, he sees Kimi pull his hood up and cast his eyes to the ground. Mark has that uneasy (and unfortunately rather common) feeling that the Finn was somehow involved, but there are things he'd rather not know. It's easier if he doesn't know. He's right of course. Not that Kimi did it on purpose. It's not his fault idiot drivers kept using the ice bridges he made even when they were melting. 

When they get to the hotel, no one stops them going in, though they do have to navigate through crowds of technology deprived people. 

“Bro, how am I supposed to post a selfie of Roscoe when I can't get a signal?” a man sulks while his dog sits there with sunglasses on his face. 

The tall woman next to him runs a hand across her face. “Lewis, how many times do I have to ask you not to call me _bro_. And the world will survive without another picture of the dog.” 

Mark looks briefly at the posh pair, glad he doesn't have to mingle with people like them, then joins the rest of his team in the elevator. 

“Need a card key to get to penthouse level,” Kimi says when Fernando tries to push the button for the 69th floor but nothing happens. 

There's the now almost usual swish of air and in an instant Seb is back, holding a card between his fingers. “Got it.” 

They anxiously make their way up to the top floor, sighing in unison whenever someone makes the lift stop to get on or off. 

“What do you see?” Seb asks when they finally reach the top floor. 

Mark focuses his vision. “The hallway is clear.” 

They step out and stop in front of the door, and he takes another look. “Bedroom. I see two men walking around, and another three. Two of them are sitting down, looks like one is on the bed.” 

“Hurt?” Seb asks. 

“Can't tell, but he's moving. Okay let's go in careful, you know the drill.”

Fernando makes quick work of the lock, leaving nothing but a puddle of molten metal behind. Seb whooshes away from them and as soon as they get to the bedroom, Kimi freezes the two men that were standing right where they’re stood. 

It takes another second for the four of them to go completely stiff and wide-eyed while the room gets filled with shrieks and curses. 

 

“Jev, what the fuck?! Didn't you lock the door?” one of the men standing yells.

“Yes! It was locked, I checked!” Jev says in French, trying to hide himself but failing, because, well, there’s a lot to hide. A snowball hits him behind the head. Kimi. 

“Oh shit...” the man on the bed says. 

“Oh shit indeed,” Mark says, rubbing the back of his head but still too shocked to move. His eyes dart around the room, never pausing too long anywhere, because he has absolutely no idea where he should be looking. These are not the men on TV, and, though restraints are involved, these are definitely not hostages. 

Seb is fifty shades of red by the time they get shooed out of the room, which is actually quite adorable. Mark makes a mental note to see that blush again, but quickly puts the thoughts away when another snowball hits his head. 

“Use the leather restraints,” Kimi says before leaving the room, “leaves less marks.” 

“Thanks?” the younger man with dirty blond hair answers, giving him a quirky smile.

 

The ride down the elevator is sixty-nine floors of awkward. 

“Leather?” Fernando whispers a little too loudly to Kimi, who is standing next to him. 

Kimi glances sideways at him, lifting an eyebrow, then looks down at the floor again. “Has a nice feel.” 

“Okay. Wow.” Mark says loudly. “Can we not have this discussion in here. _Please_.” 

And so no one makes a sound for the rest of the descent. Except for Sebastian, who decides to hum (out of tune) along with the elevator music.

“So what now?” Seb asks when they’ve finally reached fresh air again. 

Mark pulls out the map from his jacket pocket and they all gather around it. “Williams TV tower is a block away, is almost as tall,” Fernando points out. They all look at each other and nod in agreement.

 

The flashes of lightning emerging from the TV tower should have been a big enough clue, but no one said they were Sherlock Holmes.  Mark scans the building from the outside, trying to get a sense of the layout, then draws a sketch for the team, marking the locations of people he could see. 

“Hopefully the upper floors are the same. Let’s go in easy, we have no idea who’s in there,” Mark says. Well he thought he had no idea who was in there. Except the first person he sees, the security guard, just so happens to be his ex.

“Jenson?!” 

“You know him?” Seb asks, arms crossed.

“Yeah. Hey mate, we’re looking for the guy who’s causing the mess out there. Think he might be up here. Seen anything?” 

“How exactly do you know him?” Seb says.

Jenson doesn’t answer him but walks towards him, eyes vacant of emotion.

“Jense?” Mark says, stepping forward. “Everything okay?” 

“They were together,” Kimi whispers to Seb. 

“Jense…” Mark realizes that Jenson isn’t quite himself. They did split up, and like any split, it wasn’t the most pleasant thing to happen, but Mark is pretty sure that normal-Jenson wouldn’t try to strangle him. 

“Get off my boyfriend,” Seb yells, running at Jenson with his full speed, sending him to the ground and allowing Mark to breathe again.

“Thanks,” Mark says once he’s caught his breath. “Something was wrong with him.”

“Clearly.”

Mark frowns at Seb. “Not like that. I mean, he wasn’t himself.” 

“Brainwashed,” Kimi says, stepping over the unconscious Jenson. “They all are,” Kimi says, motioning around. “It’s like an echo.” 

They carefully make their way up the stairs, all fifty-five sets of them, therefore avoiding the mass of people Mark can see through the walls. 

“This is it,” Mark says, pausing to catch his breath. “Kimi, Fernando, take the first left. Seb and I will go right to circle them.”

“I could just run in and tie them all up,” Seb suggests.

Mark can tell Seb is just aching to apprehend these guys, but he can’t risk this. If this Ted guy can bring down a huge chunk of the electric grid, who knows what else he has up his sleeve. Plus, the last time he let Seb go in ahead of him, Seb ended up as a tiny fur ball. 

“Let’s sneak closer and see what we’re up against first.”

Seb doesn’t seem too happy about it, but he follows anyhow.

Meanwhile, Fernando and Kimi have barely turned the corner when two guys launch themselves at them. Fernando tries to heat them up just enough to make them stop, but they seem to have a high tolerance for pain. Maybe it’s the brainwashing.

Fernando ends up rolling on the floor with one of them. “Little help,” he calls out and Kimi understands. With a quick spin, Fernando rolls over and pins his opponent to the ground, holding him down so Kimi can ice him to the floor. Fernando then fires a fireball just over Kimi’s shoulder, hitting the second man’s sleeve and catching it on fire to force him into the unavoidable stop drop and roll response. Kimi tosses a large snowball over the guy to squish him and Fernando melts it into a nice ice block, just to be sure.

Kimi looks up at Fernando and their eyes meet, both nodding to acknowledge another well done job. They quickly seem to forget they’re standing atop a frozen maniac brainwashed bad guy and start making out. They tumble on the ground, and to the innocent, this would look like nothing but a wrestling match, but there’s nothing innocent about the filthy thoughts flowing like a spring river in Fernando’s head. While Kimi hears every single word of that (with a certain body part as proof of that), his thoughts remain his own, which Fernando doesn’t mind, since Kimi’s mouth has found a higher purpose now that their clothes are scattered around (and strategically placed on top of the two bad guys’ heads so they can’t see).

Their romp ends with both men sweaty, bruised, and exhaustingly crawling on the floor to retrieve their clothing. The six holes in the walls, knocked-down chandelier and half-burnt door was a result of the crime-fighting. Or so they’ll later tell Mark when he asks what the hell happened.

They’ve just finished zipping up their pants and are about to get back to business when another brainwashed man comes around the corner and punches Kimi in the face. Kimi stumbles backwards, falling on his arse. He ices the man to the floor before getting back on his feet.

“He broke my sunglasses!” Kimi says bitterly as he takes them off and tosses them to the ground. When he looks up, there's no mistaking the icy vengeance look in his eyes.

“Let it go,” Fernando says, wrapping a warm hand around Kimi's frosty fist. “Let it go, is not worth it.”

Kimi's eyes soften a bit and he relaxes his hand. Fernando smiles at him and walks away, but he doesn't make two steps before he hears the sound of a punch and a groan of pain. “You have no control,” Fernando says and shakes his head.

Kimi flexes his hand then steals the sunglasses from the man now lying limply on the floor. “Couldn't keep it in.”

Fernando rolls his eyes. “Did not even try.”

 

Mark figures Kimi and Fernando ran into some trouble along the way as well, since they arrive all at the same time in the large studio. Mark recognizes Ted instantly, and there’s a ginger-head next to him that Mark assumes is Pete.

Kimi is preparing a bolt of frost in his palm, just as Fernando is forming a ball of fire in his, but before either of them has a chance to send them towards Ted, there's a sudden jolt of lightning that sends them both to the floor.

“Mark...” Seb says, eyes wide. “What's with them being regular guys?”

Mark swallows hard, his mouth dropping open slightly. “I have no idea,” he whispers, his eyes still fixed on Ted and the sparks around his hands.

A tall blond man who had been fixing up some wires on a switchboard fixes his attention to them, walking menacingly towards Seb. Mark steps in front to protect him, fists up and ready for a fight, at least until Seb feels like he can run again.

“I can fight too.”

“I know Seb. Just, leave this one to me.”

“There’s no need for that,” Ted says with a sincere look of concern. “Let them be, Hulk.”

Hulk stops in his tracks and looks to Ted with vacant eyes. Ted sends a small spark towards the man. “Go make sure the others are okay please. Our visitors haven’t been the most respectful.”

“Who are you?” Mark asks.

“I'm ElectroTed!” he says with pride. “It's catchy, right? I think it's catchy. What do you think Pete? Oh! That's EMPete! Get it, EMP, EMPete. It's neat, come over here and show them Pete. Pete, drop the camera, come over here for a second, show them what you can do.”

“But the camera...”

“You can fix it after, come on, show them!” Ted says, with a glowing face.

Pete scratches his ginger beard, tentatively putting his camera down on a table, stroking the casing with a sad look. “I'm sorry darling.” He walks up in the middle of the room and fists his hands, his face contorting like he's in pain. Then all at once, the tension is gone from his body, and the lights go dark. It gets eerily quiet, not a buzz or a hum to be heard.

“Isn't that incredible?” Ted says. “And now, we fix it! You might want to avoid anything metal,” Ted says, pointing at Kimi who’s lazily leaning against a metal filing cabinet. Kimi looks over his shoulder at the furniture then back at Ted, but doesn’t move.

Ted shrugs and starts charging up a sphere of lightning around him. Fernando barely has time to grab Kimi by the arm to get him away from the cabinet before Ted releases the ball of energy in all directions. Just as quickly as they had gone silent, all the electronic devices around turn on again.

“So…now that we’ve seen your tricks, mind letting the hostages go?” Mark asks.

“They’re not hostages,” Ted says, “They’re special guests.”

“You really don’t want to work for these guys Ted,” Seb says, and Christian shoots him a glare. “Sorry,” Seb says towards his boss, “but it’s true. Okay, so Christian has Ginger Spice for a wife, so I guess it pays off if you’re at the top, but the rest of us spend our days writing about dead people or used cars or potholes.”

“Ginger Spice?” Ted repeats, squatting next to Christian. “You and Geri?”

Christian nods.

“Interesting, I mean, I saw her at an Awards show a few weeks ago, nicely done Horner. Tell me, how does she keep so fit. What’s her secret?”

Christian looks around the room, then back at Ted, who has pulled a chair next to him, and shoved the microphone in his face. Christian launches into a long explanation about piloxing and zumba classes, and not before long, Christian is instructing Ted into some moves and the both of them are gyrating to Shake It Off.

Toto is laughing his ass off. “This sure beats the couple’s yoga Susie is such a fan of.”

“Any chance we can call this whole diabolical thing off?” Mark asks Pete as they look on while Ted now talks to Toto Wolff about how his wife is taking the sporting world by storm, and about the fashion line they jointly launched.

“Untie the rest and go. I think I have an idea,” Pete says as he adjusts the angle of the camera following Ted’s every move.

 

“What is the idea?” Fernando asks.

“Don’t worry about it,” Kimi says, already untying Toto and Arrivabene. “It’s a good idea.”

Fernando taps on Arrivabene’s shoulder. “Free to go now,” he says with a smile, but Arrivabene just dismisses him with an annoyed look and goes back to listening to Ted, so Fernando retreats to a chair next to where Kimi is already dozing off.

“The Italian women, they don’t have the same pride, the same fashion sense they did when I was younger.”

“So what you do think about the Wolff fashion style then, Maurizio. Do you think Italian women could learn a thing or two from it?” Ted asks.

Mark exchanges awkward glances and questioning looks from his team as they wait for the fashion debate to be over.

Two hours (and a few other random conversations) later, the four leave the building with their boss and the other two hostages who won’t shut up about what a nice chap Ted was.

 

By the time they make it back to Daily News, the traffic lights are back on and most of the damaged cars have been cleared off the streets. The brainwashing’s worn off too, as confirmed by Jenson’s apology, which Mark swiftly accepts, and which Seb also, reluctantly, accepts after giving Jenson the “if-you-dare-lay-a-finger-on-my-boyfriend-again” speech.

 

“What is this?” Seb asks, looking at the small envelope Mark just pushed in front of him.

“Open it,” Mark says.

“A key?”

“To my place. If you want to.”

There’s that swoosh of air again and Seb is gone. Mark sighs as he sinks into his seat. So much for that. He turns around to see if Fernando is up for a beer after work, but his friend has his tongue probably stuck halfway down Raikkonen’s throat by the looks of it. Kimi confirms his thoughts by giving him a thumbs up. Having Kimi read his mind will never not be weird.

Mark grabs his jacket and tosses it over his shoulder. Drink for one then. He’s just stepping away from his desk when his phone beeps. He looks down at it to find a picture gracing the screen. It’s a shot from his house, with Seb posing proudly in front of the closet. _Took the right side. Hope you don’t mind_.

Mark smiles at the cheeky speedster.

 

All four of them end up at Mark’s (and now Seb’s) place that evening. Granted, Kimi and Fernando spend most of their time locked in a tongue battle, but Mark and Seb cozy up on the other couch, watching the newest hit Talk Show on TV, _Ted’s Notebook_.

“These two were at the Prancing Horse when we were there,” Mark comments about the couple on the show for the “My boyfriend loves his dogs more than me” segment.

“That’s Lewis Hamilton,” Seb says, “He’s a racing driver. Wish I had gotten his autograph.”

“Why?” Mark asks. “You’re faster than him.”

Seb smiles smugly at that, and Mark realizes his mistake when Seb starts Googling “How to become a race car driver” on his phone.

 

THE END.


End file.
